Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Pitt and Blanchett's Chemistry and Brilliant Acting Move Film Along

Jan 14, 2009

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is based on a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. While they have the same name and premise, this is where similarities end.

In the story, Benjamin is born as an old man, complete with beard, wrinkles and his legs hanging over the side of the crib. When Mr. Button walks into the room, Benjamin asks him point blank, “Are you my father?” Mr. Button is shocked, but determined to treat his son just like any other child.

In David Fincher’s film version, Benjamin (Brad Pitt) is born with the wrinkles and arthritis, but he is still the size of an infant. His mother dies during childbirth, and his father, so horrified at the appearance of his new son, runs off with Benjamin, trying to figure out what to do with him.

After hovering for a moment at the river where he debates about drowning him, Mr. Button (Jason Flemyng) leaves Benjamin on the steps of an elderly home, along with $18. Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), the caretaker, finds him and immediately takes him in. “He’s a miracle,” she says. “Not the kind of miracle you hope to see, but he’s still a child of God.”

As Benjamin gets older, the home for the elderly couldn’t be a more perfect place for him. He knows he’s different than the other seven-year-old children, but his environment gives him a place to blend in.

Problems begin to arise after Benjamin meets Daisy (Elle Fanning at age 7, Madisen Beaty at age 7), the girl with “the bluest eyes he’s ever seen.” One night after everyone has gone to bed, Daisy and Benjamin are sharing secrets by candle under a kitchen table. Daisy’s grandmother finds them, and believing Benjamin is really an old man, treats him coldly and leaves him in tears.

The chemistry between Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, who plays the older Daisy, is more palpable in Benjamin Button than it was in Babel. Blanchett especially, infuses each of her scenes with a smoldering passion. Even her scenes as an old woman who can barely open her eyes, her lilting voice conveys as much longing as any facial feature could.

Brad Pitt, whose character Benjamin’s demeanor is passive most of the film, has the more difficult job. He has to show all the tangled, mixed emotions that his character is going through in the reverse-aging process, while keeping Benjamin’s calm, easy-going personality in place. Instead of verbally lashing out the way Blanchett’s character does, Pitt shows the pain and struggle of his character through his eyes, articulation and expressions.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an elegant and mournful look at man’s mortality, as well as the enduring, accepting nature of love.

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